· CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

· ADULT EDUCATION

· EFM

· JOURNEY TO
   ADULTHOOD
      RITE 13
      J2A
      YAC

· VACATION BIBLE
   SCHOOL

· SERMONS

· CURSILLO

· HAPPENING

· RESOURCE LIST
      Chapel Library
      Recommendations

SERMONS

The Third Sunday in Lent
March 3 , 2002

By David Christian

How do you respond to strangers?

Let's suppose that you are up at the Texaco station at the Interstate. You've stopped by for gas or to pick up a carton of milk. It's an off hour and hardly anyone is around. As you get out of your car a strange man walks up to you and asks for something- five dollars-worth of gas for his car or a sandwich. What do you do?

Let's suppose he starts talking a little oddly.What do you do now?

I know what I usually do, especially if I am not "official." Instantly all my defenses go up. I try to respond politely. If the request is small I may try to help. But I am suspicious and very cautious. And I try to get out of the situation as quickly as I can.

This is the situation of the Samaritan woman in today's gospel. She has gone out to the local well in order to draw some water. It is about noon, the hottest part of the day. No one will be there.

As she walks up to the well, she sees a strange man standing there, a Jew. It is important to remember that Jews and Samaritans did not get along very well with one another.

The man asks her for a drink of water. Now, if it were I, I would draw up a quick drink of water for him and then get away as quickly as possible. Or I might even respond by turning away and hurrying back to town.

But that's not what the woman does. Rather, she begins to talk with the man. And he talks with her. Some of what he says sounds a bit strange, but as they continue to talk she begins to perceive that he is somehow special. She begins to even suspect that he may be the Messiah, the promised savior. And, we may assume, her life is changed.

I am, by nature, a cautious person. This natural caution was reinforced by my parents, who warned me as a child to be wary of strangers. And I have taught my children the same way. I suspect many of you had similar childhood training. This caution and parental training are not bad things. The world can be a dangerous place. There are people around who will take advantage of you or hurt you. It is appropriate to be cautious.

But too often this caution can be an excuse. Too often we use this caution to keep out what may be new or different; what may seem challenging or threatening. Our own lives are so filled with plans and schemes-with appointments and things to be done-that we block out anything that might complicate our already complicated lives.

We want God, but we want God to come according to our schedule, at a time which will be convenient for us. And we don't want God to disrupt things too much.

But God doesn't come to us according to our schedules. God doesn't worry about challenging us. God doesn't worry about shaking up our lives.

God is already here. God is already out there. Waiting. Waiting for us. Waiting to enter our lives and fill us and transform us.

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews instructs the faithful in the early church not to "neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." He might just as well have written "some have entertained God without knowing it."

The Samaritan woman did not go out to Jacob's well on that hot day looking for God. But God was there waiting for her. And because of her willingness to help a stranger and her willingness to be open to him she found God and life and joy.

God grant that we may find the same.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

Exodus 17.1-7
Romans 5.1-11
John 4.5-42